John d



J. D. MILLER. LETTER CARRIERS REGISTER.

(No Model.)

No. 559,736. Patented May 5, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT @EEicE.

JOHN D. MILLER, OF RIVERDALE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF TlVO-Tl-IIRDS TO SAMUEL M. JONES AND CHARLES M. TOYVSON, OF \VASI'HNGTON,

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

LETTER-CARRIERS REGISTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 559,736, dated May 5, 1896.

Application filed January 23, 1896. Serial No. 577,175. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN D. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Riverdale, in the county of Prince Georges and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Carriers Registers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appcrtains to make and use the same.

My invention relates, broadly, to letterboxes, but more particularly to means attached to such boxes which can only be operated by a lettencarrier when he opens said box to collect the mail, whereby a ticket, with which each carrier is provided, is marked, and as the carrier must turn in this ticket after each collection to the inspector, the latter can at a glance at the ticket tell instantly whether or not the collector has visited all of the boxes in his route. This card or ticket is put on file in the post-office for reference. Should any complaints about non-collection come in on a particular route, it is only necessary to look over the tickets on file to convict or vindicate the carrier. Thus each collector is his own spy. Thus this invention will enable the Government to do away with the expense of route-inspectors, a system which is not at all pleasant either to the ofiicials in charge or to the collector.

My invention consists of a lever secured in the box, a marker, an opening in the box, and a ticket adapted to pass through said opening, the marking mechanism being operated by the opening of the door at the bottom of the box by the collector.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a box, showing my invention, in full and dotted lines, attached to the box. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the box and mechanism. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section. Fig. i is an enlarged detail section on line a; at, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a top plan of the marker. Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the ticket.

A represents the box of an approved pattern; B, the door thereof at the bottom of said box.

1 is the hinge of' the door B, which has a rearwardlyextending portion 2, which is intended to act as a lever.

3 is a lever, which is pivoted 4 to the lever 2.

5 is a rod, on the top of which is secured a marking device 6, which may be a stamp, a punch, or any otherdesired marker. The rod 5 is pivoted to the lever at 17.

7 is a plate secured to the inside of the box above the door B, through which is formed an opening in which the rod 5 may Work.

8 is a groove formed in the top of the plate '7.

9 is a plate secured on the top of the plate 7, in which is an opening 10, directly over the opening in the plate 7.

11. is a piece set in the side of the box, in which is formed a slot 12, said slot having a flaring mouth 13.

14 is a flap of approved pattern to cover the slot 12 in order to prevent snow and rain from beating in the box and damaging the mail. The slot 12 registers with the groove 8 in the plate 7.

15 is the ticket, which, as illustrated, is composed of a series of strips, which may be of cardboard, thin sheet metal, or any other desired material, said strips being secured together by means of an eyelet 16.

The operation is as follows: Each collector is given one of the tickets as he goes out on his collection trip. when the collector arrives at a box from which a collection is to be made, he first pushes one end of one of the strips of his ticket in the slot 12 into the groove 8. He then opens the door B after unlocking it, and as he pushes the door 13 down the lever 2 is swung upward, which in turn pushes the lever 3 and the rod 5 upward, whereby the marking device 6 is pressed against the ticket, thus causing a character to be made on, in, or through said ticket. After the collector has collected the mail from this particular box he closes the door B and secures it,whereby the lever 3, rod 5, and marking device are pulled downward under the action of the lever 2.

Each box on the collectors route has a different number or other character. Thus when the collector turns his collection in at the office he must also turn in his ticket, which at a glance will tell the olficial in charge whether or not thecollector has visited all of the boxes on his route. Thus each collector is compelled to open each box on his route in order to turn in a clean ticket, and as he is compelled to visit and open each box he will always collect the mail.

It has been found that a collector fre quently fails to visit each box 011 his route for several days, especially boxes in outlying districts. Now it will readily be seen that the collector, with my invention in use, must visit each box on each collection trip or he will turn in a report against himself by means of the ticket, which will show the absence of the number of the particular box or boxes he failed to visit. The collector is not only compelled to visit each box, but he must open it in order to operate the marking device and as the box is open there will be no reason for him not to take the mail out. As the collector is only given one ticket for each trip, which must be turned in as soon as he returns to the office, it will be seen that he cannot fix up a ticket on one trip that saves him from visiting all the boxes on the next trip.

If a punch is used as a marking device, it may be well to use tickets of oiled paper, which would act as lubricant to the punch each time the device is operated.

It is obvious that slight changes may be made in the construction shown without dcparting from the spirit of my invention.

That I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a letter-box an opening in said box, a ticket adapted to enter said opening and a marking mechanism secured in said box back of the said opening and means connected to the door of the box to operate said marking mechanism.

2. The combination with a letter-box, a marking mechanism secured in said box, means connected to the door of the box to operate said mechanism, at each collection of mail from said box and a ticket to receive a mark from the marking mechanism when operated.

The combination with a letter-box, an opening in said box, a ticket adapted to enter said opening, a marking mechanism secured back of said opening in the box, means connecting said marking mechanismto the collector s door of the box, whereby said mechanism is operated by the opening of said door.

L. The combination with a letter-box, an opening in said box, a ticket adapted to enter said openingya plate secured, back of said opening in the box, a groove in said plate registering with said opening, an opening in said plate a rodadapted to work in said opening, a marking device on said rod, a lever pivoted to said rod and means connecting the said lever with a collectors door on the box whereby the marking mechanism is operated by the opening of'the door.

5. The eombinationwith a letter-box, the collectors door hinged thereto,a lever extending from said hinge, a marking mechanism secured in said box, means connecting said mechanism and said lever,an opening through the box in front of said marking mechanism and a ticket adapted to 'pass'through said opening to the mechanism.

6. The combination with a letter-box a marking mechanism secured therein an opening through said box infront of said marking mechanism, means to operate said mechanism eaeh time the box is opened for the purpose of collecting mail, of a ticket composed of a series of strips of suitable material pivotally secured together, each of which is adapted to pass through said opening to the marking mechanism.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

J OIIN D. MILLER. Witnesses:

EDWIN S. CLARKSON, GRACE M. FINLEY. 

